Accrington: John Swannack's criminal past of homicide and gun possession

Evil John Swannack was yesterday (March 15) jailed for life with a minimum term of 30 years after he tortured, stabbed and poured accelerant over 79-year-old Bill Howard in a bid to get him to reveal his bank card details.

Accrington man John Swannack jailed for murdering pensioner

But this wasn’t the first time Swannack had been jailed for homicide, nor the first time he had been issued a life sentence.

The first record of the 59-year-old offending dates back to 1986, when he was 23. On that occasion the crime in question was theft, but that behaviour soon escalated and when he was 24, he was jailed for robbery.

By the time he was 26 he had been released from prison and was back out terrorising the people of East Lancashire – this time committing another robbery while in possession of a firearm.

By 1992 Swannack had been in and out of prison for several years, but his most sinister crime was yet to come.

According to Lancashire Telegraph articles from the time, Swannack received an eight-year sentence for manslaughter after he was involved in the unlawful killing of his best friend Billy Haggart, who was beaten with an iron bar.

A court heard how Swannack attacked Mr Haggart after they rowed about paying for a holiday in Corfu in August 1992.

Mr Haggart’s body lay undiscovered on the balcony of a Blackburn flat for more than a week.

Another court report from 2004 reveals how Swannack was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of five years after he had held up a petrol station while using a child’s plastic pellet gun to threaten people.

The father-of-two, who by this point was living on Cornelian Street in Blackburn, was wearing a builders hat, luminous green workman’s coat and sunglasses when he entered the Park Garage on Whalley New Road.

He had a copy of a newspaper and 50p in his his hand, which he handed to assistant Rita Calvert.

When she went into the till to get some change, he reached over and grabbed £420 cash.

The following day a plastic BB toy handgun was found near to the scene of the robbery and police officers searching the area found the hat, jacket and newspaper in a nearby skip.

Swannack’s latest sentence, for the murder of Mr Howard, means he will be at least 89 before he is considered for parole.